You are here

Moon and the Bull

StarDate:

September 27, 2010

During the Moon Race, Moon-bound spacecraft were about as common as passes in a Colts-Patriots game. In about a decade and a half, the United States and the Soviet Union hurled almost 60 craft at the Moon. Some of them slammed into the Moon, some entered orbit, and some carried astronauts down to the surface.

Once the Moon Race ended, though, the attitude in both countries was pretty much "been there, done that." Lunar exploration came to a quick end.

In the last decade, though, there's been a slow resurgence in lunar exploration. America is part of the show, but Russia is not. Instead, some new players are hitting the field: Europe, China, India, and Japan.

Each of them has slammed a craft into the lunar surface to try to toss up some buried water -- and several have succeeded. They've also sent orbiters to photograph the surface and measure its composition. Thanks to advances in technology, most of their observations are far better than those made in the 1960s and '70s.

And much more is still to come. Two new American probes are scheduled for launch late next year, while China and India may send rovers to the Moon as early as 2013. It's not quite a Moon race, but it is a rebirth in lunar exploration.

Look for the Moon rising in mid-evening, with the little Pleiades star cluster -- the shoulder of Taurus, the bull -- to its left. The bull's orange eye -- the star Aldebaran -- trails them across the sky.

Get Premium Audio

Listen to today's episode of StarDate on the web the same day it airs in high-quality streaming audio without any extra ads or announcements. Choose a $8 one-month pass, or listen every day for a year for just $30.

Month (31 days), $8.00

Year, $30.00

Type

New subscriber

Renewal

Gift

Keywords

Search form

Search

Subscribe

+Get the ultimate StarDate fan experience with our premium digital package — a one-year subscription to the digital edition of StarDate magazine and a one-year subscription to our same-day audio service. Get both together for just $45, a savings of 20% over purchasing both separately.